Dumah
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999) |race = • Human (birth) • Vampire: Soul Reaver era (until death) • Wraith (while impaled) |gender = • Male |birthera = • Nosgoth's early history |status = • Inactive: deceased, soul devoured (as of the Soul Reaver era) |titles = • Sarafan warrior inquisitor • Third lieutenant of the Council • Patriarch of the Dumahim clan |territories = • The Ruined City |affiliation = • The Sarafan (Nosgoth's early history) • The Circle of Nine • Kain's empire • The Council • The Dumahim |gift = • Constricting |realm = As a human and vampire: • Material Realm As a wraith: • Spectral Realm |voice = Simon Templeman Uncredited |appearances = • • • }} Dumah is a recurring character in the Legacy of Kain series who makes major appearances in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2. One of the leading warrior inquisitors of the vampire-hunting Sarafan brotherhood, he was born in Nosgoth's early history, and was himself raised as a vampire, unawares, a millennium after his death by Kain to act as a member of the Council. Dumah created the Dumahim vampire clan and served Kain for centuries in the Soul Reaver era - notably partaking in Raziel's execution, alongside Turel - before being killed by vampire hunters. On his return to Nosgoth, Raziel pervaded the Ruined City and revived Dumah, only to destroy him utterly and consume his soul. Role Complacent in Arrogance Dumah was originally a human being, born in Nosgoth's early history. Soul Reaver 2: Historical Timeline at Dark Chronicle (by Marie Walter) He joined the order of the Sarafan, and was among those accordingly "trained to be devoutly loyal to the Circle [of Nine], and the perfect exterminators of the undead scourge" (Nosgoth's vampires). Over time, Dumah attained the high rank of warrior inquisitor, junior to Malek, the youthful Raziel, and the elder Turel. Some questions about SR2 Sarafan at DCabDesign (by Lexy), post #3 (by Daniel Cabuco) Alongside these warrior-priests, and his peers Melchiah, Rahab and Zephon, he was considered the "pride of the order"; with the other six commanders, he was lionized as a "Sarafan saint" upon his death. His corpse, like those of the others, was interred in a sarcophagus in the Tomb of the Sarafan. When Kain - a vampire, and the Guardian of the Pillar of Balance - sought to revive the near-extinct vampire race at the end of the post-Blood Omen era, he stole into the Tomb of the Sarafan and found the "well-entombed" remains of six of the former inquisitors. Soul Reaver: Background Story at Dark Chronicle (by Marie Walter) Soul Reaver 2: Background Story at Dark Chronicle (by Marie Walter) Breathing his soul energy into them, one by one, he drew their own souls back into their bodies, and thus resurrected them as his "favored sons". GLoK Interviews with Amy Hennig at Nosgothic Realm (by Raziel Fan), post #5 (by RazielFan) Dumah was most likely the third fledgling to be raised. Dumah at Dark Chronicle (by Marie Walter) The cadre was "too long dead to remember much of their human lives; they were ignorant of their Sarafan roots, or of Kain's blasphemous private joke". They and Kain resolved to bring Nosgoth under vampire rule. Over the ensuing century, Dumah sired a clan of vampires in Kain's empire - the Dumahim - and participated in the domestication of humanity. Eventually, he "retreated with his clan into Nosgoth's northern wilderness" - his mountain stronghold, which would later become known as the Ruined City, lay near the Oracle's Cave. Like his fellow lieutenants, he was present for the Council meeting which took place at the Sanctuary of the Clans, a millennium after Kain had raised them. There Raziel revealed he had surpassed Kain; Dumah was visibly perturbed when he noticed Raziel's newly-pupated wings, and reacted with blatant distress when Kain viciously tore the wings from his eldest son's body. Nevertheless, he did not disobey when Kain instructed him and Turel to cast Raziel into the Abyss. Soul Reaver 2 (Raziel) (archived at Dark Chronicle) Strength Honed by Centuries Five hundred years after his execution, Raziel would be resurrected by the Elder God, and would return to Nosgoth to exact revenge against the vampires. Blood Omen 2 Q&A at GameSpot (by Sam Newman) In the intermediate centuries, the vampires continued to evolve, and, ultimately, devolve: they had inherited spiritual corruption from Kain's soul, which gradually warped them into monsters. Question and Answer with Jen, Richard, and Kyle at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) Dumah's evolution, though, was prematurely halted. A few questions at DCabDesign (by Divine Shadow), post #2 (by Daniel Cabuco) Centuries before Raziel's revival, "Dumah and his offspring failed to see an attack coming from the least likely assailants". Their stronghold was ambushed by the land's surviving vampire hunters; the humans managed to "decimate their ranks with little resistance". Dumah himself was killed - impaled by three massive stakes, and transfixed to the seat of his throne room - and the few Dumahim who escaped the attack were "reduced to scavengers". Drastically-evolved fledgling Dumahim were the first vampires Raziel encountered on his journey - so altered that they had become unrecognizable - but Dumah was the last of the lieutenants he met in the Soul Reaver era. After consuming Rahab's soul, he found the Ruined City, and initially believed that his brother and the Dumahim may have suffered the same fate as the Razielim, but the Elder God immediately corrected him, attributing the devastation to their arrogance. Raziel found Dumah's corpse, and removed the stakes, enabling his soul to reinhabit his body. Dumah expressed gratitude, but Raziel rebuked this, still holding him to account for his execution. Unbowed, Dumah claimed that he, too, had surpassed Kain; he was now a revived vampire, and "the centuries in limbo had honed his strength". Raziel was forced to retreat, finding that Dumah's armor was impenetrable and his physical prowess formidable, but was correct in his thesis that "even the strongest vampire is vulnerable". He evaded Dumah's constricting powers and tremor-inducing attacks, and lured him to the Ruined City's Furnace. There, he used a mechanism to burn Dumah to death, and obtained the ability to constrict upon devouring his soul. To Bury the Fiend Alive After Raziel pursued Kain through the Chronoplast, into the past, his travels across time led him at length to Nosgoth's early history. While searching for the ancient vampire Janos Audron, who supposedly held the key to his destiny, Raziel encountered the troops of the Sarafan in the flesh, and "the victims of their crusade". By this stage, Raziel's former idolatry of the Sarafan - his own noble heritage - had started to wane. He still "felt a twinge of longing, a pang of grief for what he had believed was his lost virtue", but he "regarded them now with none of the reverence he formerly felt". Raziel entered Janos Audron's Retreat, and met Janos in person, who offered him the Reaver blade. They conversed briefly, but were soon interrupted by attackers - the Sarafan warrior inquisitors themselves, including Raziel's former self, and Dumah. The wraith Raziel was prevented from intervening as his Sarafan counterpart ripped the Heart of Darkness from Janos's chest. Dumah expressed alarm as the Retreat began to collapse, appealing to Raziel that they should flee: Raziel instructed him to "remember the sword", and he seized the Reaver as they absconded. Janos's murder had dire consequences for Dumah, as the wraith Raziel followed the inquisitors back to the Sarafan Stronghold to avenge his death and recover the stolen Heart and Reaver. His attack was simultaneous to Vorador's slaughter of the Circle (at the same location, and with the same motivation). Warp's answers from Amy at the Eidos Forums (by blincoln) Raziel found the Reaver and, after using it to slay the Sarafan Melchiah and Zephon, confronted Dumah, with Rahab, in the Sanctuary area. Dumah merely inquired as to whether Raziel sought "to reclaim the monster's black heart" before launching into battle. He soon had his answer, as Raziel easily killed him and his remaining comrades. "It was Raziel who put these bastards in their tomb – thus providing the corpses for Kain to raise as his vampire sons a millennium from now". Background Development Appearance Personality Powers Etymology Notes *During the development of ''Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver'', Dumah had the codename "Ronin" or "Ronin Boss", titled after the 'wandering' samurai whose masters had been killed. In biblical mythology, "Dumah" is the fallen angel of "silence and the stillness of death" and "chief of demons in hell". *Like Melchiah before him, Dumah shares an association with death; Dumah (and to an extent his city) is 'dead' and when revived, he shares many attributes (such as the Soul Siphon ability) in common with Vampire Wraiths and Revived Vampires (the former of which are the main occupants of the city and both of whom were formally 'killed'). Dumah also demonstrates that like Melchiah, Zephon and Kain , he has access to the Spectral Realm; Raziel can confront Dumah in either realm (though he can only be 'killed in the Material Realm) and a conversation can take place in the Spectral Realm before his revival. *Dumah's position as the third of the six inquisitors is not explictly confirmed, presumably either he of his brother Rahab could equally be fourth instead, but video-game convention (in boss order) as well as Dumah physically dragging Raziel to the Abyss (along with Turel) may imply Dumah's seniority over Rahab . *Dumah's ability Constrict, was not seen in further games beyond ''Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver''. *Some time before he killed Dumah, Raziel had learnt of he and Dumah's shared heritage as Sarafan Inquisitors, when he breached the Tomb of the Sarafan. Raziel initially held Sarafan in high regard, but began to turn against them in ''Soul Reaver 2'' eventually going back in time and killing both his original Human self and the original Human Dumah; This ultimately means Raziel is responsible for both of Dumah's deaths. *In the Pre-Blood Omen era, the Human Dumah is memorialised along with his Sarafan Inquisitor brothers in the 'Chapter House' of the Sarafan Stronghold. Dumah's Mural is the most significant as it features a of a blue winged 'Demons' behind him - this is widely believed to be a depiction of the Wraith Raziel, who murdered the Inquisitors. *In ''Soul Reaver 2'', when Dumah dies, The Reaver , in its blood-drinking state, can be seen to consume his blood. It does not consume his Soul however (which quickly rises away); Raziel recognising that The Reaver is not consuming souls ultimately leads to his epiphany at the climax of ''Soul Reaver 2''. *In Soul Reaver Beta version, when Raziel encounters Dumah, there is boss encounter music playing which is missing in the retail version. Gallery File:Legacy of Kain - Soul Reaver p07.jpg|The vampire Dumah (SR1 Comic). File:SR1-Gameplay-MainMenu-Normal.png|Dumah (upper left) as represented on the title screen (SR1). File:SR1-Gameplay-MainMenu-Vampires.png|Dumah (upper left) as represented on the title screen (SR1). File:Dumah-SR1.jpg|Dumah in-game (SR1). File:SR1-Icon-Symbol-Dumah.jpg|Daniel Cabuco's Dumahim clan symbol (SR1). File:SR2-Screenshot-Enemy-Dumah.png|The Sarafan Dumah in-game (SR2). File:SR2-Texture-Stronghold-InquisitorDumah.png|Mural of the Sarafan Dumah (SR2). File:SR2-BonusMaterial-EnemyArt-44-Dumah.png|Bonus material concept art of the Sarafan Dumah (SR2). File:Defiance12GameStop.jpg|Dumah with the Council (Defiance Comic). File:Defiance15GameStop.jpg|The devolved Dumah (Defiance Comic). File:SR1-Misc-ActionFigure-Dumah.jpg|Blue Box Interactive's Dumah action figure. File:Art-DanielCabuco-Dumah.jpg|Portrait of the vampire Dumah by Daniel Cabuco. Appearances * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver comic * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver * Soul Reaver 2 * Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic See also *Council *Dumah (SR1 boss) *Dumah (SR2 boss) *Dumah's throne room *Dumahim *Kain's empire *Ruined City *Sanctuary (Sarafan Stronghold) *Sarafan (Nosgoth's early history) *Sarafan warrior inquisitors * Dumah at Wikipedia. * Dumah at Dark Chronicle (by Marie Walter). * Prototype Action Figures at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln). * Retail Action Figures at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln). References }} Category:Characters Category:Defiance comic characters Category:Legacy of Kain: Defiance Category:Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Category:Soul Reaver characters Category:Soul Reaver 2 Category:Soul Reaver 2 characters